RUSSELL Earnshaw is keeping close to his chest the cards on which Bees’ targets for the season are scribed in blood, sweat and tears.

While he refuses to explicitly confirm the Damson Park outfit are aiming for a top-eight finish he concedes: “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work it out.”

He cannot, however, contain the sense of anticipation everyone at Bees feels ahead of tomorrow’s Championship opener at hot promotion favourites Worcester.

Several thousand people will be at Sixways to watch Andy Goode, Bruce Douglas, Neil Best et al begin their march back to the Premiership. And with his shoulder still recovering from surgery the former Worcester back row will be one of them.

“It’s exciting for us, like when you have signed your first autograph, played in your first big game or represented your country,” Earnshaw said.

“We have got a lot of players who are very excited about it, a lot of whom will not have played in front of that number of people before.”

What makes the match more enthralling is that of all the teams in the second tier, Bees will go there and throw caution to the wind.

They are not going to shove Richard Hill’s pack over its own line, so they will attack through the backs, from everywhere and anywhere.

“We are hoping it doesn’t rain for the entire season and we can play rugby,’’ said Earnshaw. “We are not going to go there and keep it tight, everyone knows that.

“We are not going to go there and go into our shells, we are going to express ourselves and we have got players that can go and do that.”

But Bees’ ultimate fate will not be decided at places like Sixways and Old Deer Park, where London Welsh will be extremely tough.

Instead they will have to build their campaign on a solid foundation and that starts at their new home.

“It’s a new beginning for the whole club and the pitch really suits us. It’s only three metres narrower than a maximum rugby pitch so we are going to be able to put a bit more width on our game than we did at Sharmans Cross.”